TO AN ATHLETE DYING YOUNG
"I'm a firm believer that, if you know how to use cocaine
and use it properly, it can make you play better. I really
believe cocaine can be performance enhancing."
-Lefty Driesell
I hate Lefty Driesell.
Even though he's gone, I hate him and what he did. Is that an unpopular opinion? Yes. Is it warranted? I will let you decide.
The 19th of June. It is always a sad and somber day for me: yes, it is the last official day of the 2026 NBA playoffs (depending. . .) . But–and this matters–it also marks the 40th anniversary of the death of Len Bias.
I hate Lefty because he did not care about his players.
I hate him because he ruined my life.
And I hate him because, if he had done the right thing, Len Bias might still be alive today. Granted, Len surely wouldn't be playing in the 2026 NBA playoffs–Len would be 62 today–but there is no doubt that he would be part of NBA history. And Len's parents would not have had to go through the worst hell that any mother or father can imagine.
And why, with the above time stamp, is this polemic still timely? The answer is simple, and incontrovertible: because corruption still goes on in college athletics, and the athletes are the victims.
There are two reasons to judge Lefty harshly.
- He made public statements condoning and praising the benefits of cocaine use, as quoted above.
- He did not care about the future of his players, as evidenced by his complete apathy as to whether or not they went to class or received a degree.
The cruelest and most damaging thing that you can do to a student is harm their chances for the future. And what could be more damaging than turning a blind eye to a student who is not even attending a single class–something an athlete must do, partly to have a chance at any kind of future, and partly to remain eligible to play. Rousing speeches and group hugs do not fix this. Midnight Madness does not even do this.
When Driesell was ousted following Bias's death in 1986, published reports from that spring semester revealed that 5 of his 12 players had flunked out, and the team's average GPA was a D+. The blowback was swift and stunning. Even the academic advisor to the Maryland Terrapins, Wendy Whittemore, executed a shocking and inspiring resignation on principle.
With just a word about the potential consequences from Driesell–being banned from play–there is no question that players would have resumed attending classes. Len Bias, understandably riding high on the Celtic's offer, dropped out of his final semester's classes completely–thus making him ineligible to play, technically. And thus putting me, one of his teachers, in the crosshairs.
The reason that Lefty's terrible academic and graduation stats are so damning is because coaches like Lefty basically damned their players to oblivion–blinding, anonymous, impoverished oblivion, once the Friday Night Lights dim.
And no, you don't have to choose between athletic excellence and academic accomplishment.
As a person who has taught at three different universities/colleges, let me make this clear: getting a passing grade in an easy major when you are a university superstar is a simple process. First, you pick a major: Phys. Ed., English, Business Administration, Communications, whatev'. The great thing about that last major is that, as a college athlete, you can use it later in life, after you are too old or injured to play, and you want to make the natural segue–sport broadcasting. (Ziz Abdur-Ra'oof did, and I was proud of how seriously he took my communications class–the same one Lenny was enrolled in.)
But, because Driesell did not care that most of his athletes were flunking, those players, (unless they are part of the 1 percent that goes pro) basically used up their playing eligibility, but without a degree. These players, many of whom are amazing (but not quite good enough for that 1.1 percent) can't even get a job coaching high school ball. They can't even be Ken Tanaka.
As for the even more tragic reason for my vitriol: Lefty Driesell had an opportunity, nay, a sacred obligation to come between his players and addiction. Weirdly, this has been a dark and stupid thread through Driesell's career: in 1957, in a paper he wrote for his Master's degree, Lefty wrote a passage lauding the positive effects of cocaine. Thirty years later he would continue to laud it. The fact that he made the statement (the one opening this article) only after Len was dead shows how deeply warped Lefty's rhetoric, research, and overall approach was. His thinking and speaking on the subject was not only flawed but deadly: what kind of person could lose a nationally beloved player to the evils of cocaine, then, upon invitation, still laud its effects? Lefty, get a clue: one of the effects is DEATH.
Let me be blunt. Let us talk reality, common sense, and shared experience: when someone you are close to is on drugs, particularly cocaine, you are aware. Trust me on this: as a person who has been both competitor and a coach on one of the best college teams in the nation, I can assure you that everybody knows what everybody else is up to: bus rides to competitions that last from dawn till midnite, shared hotel rooms, more hours spent with your team on any given week than most people spend at their jobs or with their spouse. . .you know. You know.
I believe Lefty knew that some of his boys were doing cocaine–and all things considered, he could have tested them. Testing in the NCAA had just become a thing earlier that year–it is beyond tragic that the trend to test players for performance enhancing drugs was accelerated by the death of Len Bias. But that didn't stop Driesell from singing the praises of cocaine even a full year after Lenny's death. Hell, even the credible threat that they would be tested–and if discovered to be using, banned from play, would have been a deterrent.
All of the above may have served Lenny. He might be alive today.
But thanks to Lefty, with his praise of cocaine, Len Bias is dead.
The person I came to admire most through all of this was Lenny's mother, Lonise Bias. She founded an organization that fought against drugs, gangs, and gun violence (her other son was tragically shot four years later). She told me personally what she preached in public: her son's death was not in vain, it created an awareness of the dangers of drugs.
Parting thought: when I ponder a white man gathering a group of black men, and then using them for his gain and glory, without giving a damn about the well-being of those young black men–I'm sorry. I just see a plantation owner, folks.
And in case you think I am being hyperbolic–fast forward to a decade after Lenny's tragic death–guess how many Maryland Terrapin basketball players who enrolled between 1997 and 2000 graduated, instead of flunking out: ZERO.
Zero graduated.
That's one hell of a legacy, Lefty.
Signed, Meg Langford–artist, author, blogger
More about the passing of Len Bias under RACISM, in the menu above. See, "To An Athlete Dying Young"